Title: David Schoenbrun Papers
Inclusive Dates: 1943-1980 (bulk 1962-1980)

Creator:

• Schoenbrun, David, 1915-1988

Call Number: U.S. Mss 118AF; Audio 329A; Disc 121A; PH U.S. Mss 118AF; DD 121

Quantity: 4.0 cubic feet (8 archives boxes and 1 records center carton), 2 tape recordings, 6 disc recordings, 254 photographs, 232 negatives, 1 oversize folder of photographs, and 1 film

Repository:

Wisconsin Historical Society, Division of Library, Archives, and Museum Collections

Archival Locations:

Wisconsin Historical Society (Map)

COLLECTION MAY BE STORED OFF-SITE: see catalog entry to request materials and for additional information.

Abstract:

Papers of David Schoenbrun, a CBS foreign correspondent, news broadcaster, and author, primarily pertaining to his later career when he was world affairs correspondent for Metromedia and a free-lance journalist. Business correspondence, which comprises much of the collection, consists of letters to and from several notable individuals and exchanges with publishers about free-lance work. From his 1967 tour of Southeast Asia there are reports and briefings on meetings with foreign officials and U.S. military officers and photographs of street life and destruction in Hanoi and elsewhere in North Vietnam caused by American bombing. The remainder of the collection consists of personal correspondence, financial records, speeches and writings, scripts for David Schoenbrun Reporting, and research files that include photocopied documents about the French underground during World War II. Also included is a recorded conversation with Dwight D. Eisenhower about Charles de Gaulle also concerning the French underground; North Vietnamese patriotic music; and the film David Schoenbrun on Vietnam: How Did We Get In? How Can We Get Out?

Note:

The film in this collection is also cataloged separately.

Language: English

URL to cite for this finding aid: http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/wiarchives.uw-whs-us0118af

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David Franz Schoenbrun, son of Max and Lucy (Cassirer) Schoenbrun, was born in New York City, March 15, 1915. He graduated from Townsend Harris Hall Prep School in 1930 and from City College, New York in 1934. In 1938 he married Dorothy Scher; they have one child, Lucy. From 1934 to 1935, he taught French and Spanish at Townsend Harris Hall, and in the New York City high schools from 1935 to 1936. Then, in a complete change of pace, Schoenbrun took a job as labor relations adjustor for the Dress Manufacturers Association and edited their trade paper.

From 1942 to 1943, he was chief of the Office of War Information, European propaganda desk. In 1943 he became the Chief Allied Forces newsroom commentator on the United Nations radio in Algeria, North Africa. From 1944 to 1945, he was a U.S. Intelligence Liaison Officer with the French Army, and in 1945 was combat correspondent with the U.S. 7th Army. He became a free-lance foreign correspondent in 1945, and worked for CBS News in France from 1946 to 1962. In 1962 CBS appointed him Bureau Chief and Chief Correspondent for CBS News in Washington, D.C. After 1964, he was associated with Metromedia as world affairs correspondent.

In 1967 he made an eleven-week field study in the Pacific and Asia sponsored by the Center for the Study of Democratic Institutions. He visited Japan, Indonesia, Singapore, South Vietnam, Cambodia, North Vietnam, and Thailand. In 1968 at Columbia, he taught the first one-year course on the history of Vietnam; this was the first such course offered in the United States.

Schoenbrun has been decorated with the Legion of Honor and the Croix de Guerre (France). In 1957 he was recipient of the Best Book of Foreign Affairs award, and in 1959 he received the Alfred DuPont award as best radio-TV commentator. He has published three books: As France Goes (1957), The Three Lives of Charles De Gaulle (1965), and David Schoenbrun on Vietnam: How Did We Get In? How Can We Get Out? (1968).

The Schoenbrun Papers are arranged as CORRESPONDENCE, FINANCIAL RECORDS, SUBJECT FILES, AUDIO RECORDINGS, and VISUAL MATERIALS. The collection consists of business, personal and financial papers, and some records of his corporation, Atlanticom, Inc., for 1963-1964, with scattered material through 1970. Atlanticom, Inc., based in New York City, was formed to handle Schoenbrun's personal and business transactions in the United States.

Although best known for his years as chief of the CBS News Bureau in Paris, the papers contain virtually nothing about this period in Schoenbrun's career. About Charles DeGaulle whom Schoenbrun observed for many years while living in France, there is only “DeGaulle and the Anglo-Saxons,” a monograph not published in the United States. Schoenbrun's three books about DeGaulle, as well as his other publications are available in the Historical Society Library and the University of Wisconsin's Memorial Library.

The CORRESPONDENCE, which begins in 1962 when Schoenbrun was appointed head of the CBS Washington News Bureau, is divided into business, personal, and financial files, all arranged alphabetically and chronologically thereunder. The Business Correspondence encompasses all facets of Schoenbrun's later professional work and includes information connected with interviews, the gathering of research material, and the publication of The Three Lives of Charles De Gaulle and several articles. Although there are exchanges with some individuals of note, none of the correspondence is extensive. One folder of Personal Correspondence deals mainly with organizational memberships and other non-business topics. The Financial Correspondence concerns Schoenbrun's personal financial transactions.

The FINANCIAL RECORDS include Schoenbrun's personal finances and Atlanticom, Inc. It is arranged by subject and chronologically thereunder. These records include the income tax returns and bills of Atlanticom, Inc., 1963-1964. Other papers cover the years 1963 through 1965 and are mainly business related expenses and taxes.

The SUBJECT FILE is arranged alphabetically and covers broad areas such as Schoenbrun's daily radio commentaries while with Metromedia in 1964, materials on his 1967 Asian tour, manuscript copies of “De Gaulle and the Anglo-Saxons” and his biography of Benjamin Franklin, and other writings and speeches. The best material concerns his trip to Asia in 1967 during which he spent two weeks in North Vietnam interviewing Pham van Dong and other officials and photographing street life and the destruction caused by American bombing. The collection also includes his articles about the Hanoi visit published by Newsday and a report for the Center for the Study of Democratic Institutions, which sponsored the trip. The latter includes extended comments on his interviews with Japanese Premiers Eiseka Sato and Takeo Miki, Generals Creigton Abrams and William Westmoreland, and Indonesian Foreign Minister Adam Malik. Research material in the Subject Files includes one cubic foot of photocopied documents about the French Underground from the National Archives and bibliographies and chronologies about Vietnamese history.

The AUDIO RECORDINGS contain tapes of a 1964 interview of Dwight Eisenhower about Charles DeGaulle and a 1968 radio interview with Schoenbrun about Vietnam, and disc recordings of North Vietnamese patriotic songs. A transcript of the Eisenhower interview can be found in the correspondence series.

The VISUAL MATERIALS consist of the previously mentioned photographs of Hanoi, Phat Diem, and Phu Xa taken in North Vietnam by Schoenbrun in 1967 and the film David Schoenbrun on Vietnam: How Did We Get In? How Can We Get Out? Shoenbrun's Vietnamese photos consist of the original negatives and contact prints, and he has supplied information for identification. Twenty five additional prints of Vietnam, which are unidentified, are attributed to a French photo agency. There are also prints of Schoenbrun taken during this trip with Premiers Sato and Miki of Japan and two photographs and a cartoon concerning Dory Schary. Nineteen of the North Vietnamese images are online as part of Wisconsin Historical Images database.

Acquisition Information

Original Collection presented by David Schoenbrun, New York, New York, November 20, 1970; Additions presented by David Schoenbrun, 1970-1981. Accession Number: MCHC70-124, MCHC74-290, MCHC75-110, MCHC76-086, MCHC78-021, MCHC79-087, MCHC81-070

Processing Information

Original Collection processed by JEB (archives intern) and Joanne Hohler, February 26, 1973. Additions processed by Carolyn Mattern, 2011.

U.S. Mss 118AF	Series: Correspondence
	Subseries: Business Correspondence
Box   1 Folder   1	Atlanticom Inc., 1963-1964
Box   1 Folder   2	Air Distribution Installations, 1964-1965
Box   1 Folder   3	B-General, 1963-1964
Box   1 Folder   4	Bengelloum, Ambassador Ali (Morocco), 1964
Box   1 Folder   5	Bessie, Mike (Atheneum Publishers), 1963-1964
Box   1 Folder   6	Bienstock, Nathan S., 1963-1964
Box   1 Folder   7	Boggs, Hale, 1963-1964
Box   1 Folder   8	Brown and Gibbs, 1964
Box   1 Folder   9	Bundy, McGeorge, 1964
Box   1 Folder   10	Busby, Horace, 1963-1964
Box   1 Folder   11	C-General, 1963-1965
Box   1 Folder   12	CATV, 1963-1964
Box   1 Folder   13	CBS Settlement, 1957-1963
Box   1 Folder   14	Columbia University, School of Journalism, 1964
Box   1 Folder   15	D-General, 1963-1964
Box   1 Folder   16	De Gaulle, Charles, 1966
Box   1 Folder   17	E-General, 1964-1965
Box   1 Folder   18	Esquire,1963-1964
Box   1 Folder   19	Eisenhower, Dwight D., 1964-1967
Box   1 Folder   20	Eisenhower, John, 1964
Box   1 Folder   21	Europe No. 1, 1964
Box   1 Folder   22	F-General, 1963-1964
Box   1 Folder   23	Le Figaro Littéraire, 1964
Box   1 Folder   24	Fulbright, J.W., 1968-1970
Box   1 Folder   25	G-General, 1963-1964
Box   1 Folder   26	Goldberg, Arthur, 1963
Box   1 Folder   27	Goldwater, Barry, 1964
Box   1 Folder   28	H-General, 1963-1964
Box   1 Folder   29	Hackett, Buddy, 1963-1964
Box   1 Folder   30	Harriman, Averell, 1962-1964
Box   1 Folder   31	Hatfield, Mark, 1968
Box   1 Folder   32	I-General, 1964
Box   1 Folder   33	International Cultural Center, Tunis, Tunisia, 1964
Box   1 Folder   34	J-General, 1963-1964
Box   1 Folder   35	K-General, 1963-1964
Box   1 Folder   36	Kalb, Marvin, 1963
Box   1 Folder   37	Kennedy, Edward, 1964
Box   1 Folder   38	Kennedy, Robert, 1964
Box   1 Folder   39	Kinsella, John, 1963-1964
Box   1 Folder   40	L-General, 1963-1964
Box   1 Folder   41	Life, 1964
Box   1 Folder   42	Lindsay, John, 1963-1969
Box   2 Folder   1	Mc-General, 1963-1964
Box   2 Folder   2	McCarthy, Eugene J., 1968
Box   2 Folder   3	M-General, 1963-1964
Box   2 Folder   4	March, Frederic, 1963-1964
Box   2 Folder   5	Martin, George (Plays), 1964
Box   2 Folder   6	Monnet, Jean, 1968
Box   2 Folder   7	Morse, Wayne, 1968
Box   2 Folder   8	Murrow, Edward R., 1963
Box   2 Folder   9	N-General, 1963-1964
Box   2 Folder   10	Newsletter proposal, 1964
Box   2 Folder   11	New York City College, 1964
Box   2 Folder   12	New York Tri-Centennial Program, 1964
Box   2 Folder   13	New Yorker, 1963
Box   2 Folder   14	Nixon, Richard, 1964
Box   2 Folder   15	O-General, 1963-1964
Box   2 Folder   16	Opera Mundi, 1964
Box   2 Folder   17	Oral History Project, JFK Library, 1965
Box   2 Folder   18	Peking (Beijing) Industrial Fair, 1964
Box   2 Folder   19	R-General, 1963-1964
Box   2 Folder   20	Reader's Digest, 1963-1964
Box   2 Folder   21	Reedy, George, 1964
Box   2 Folder   22	Rusk, Dean, 1963
Box   2 Folder   23	S-General, 1963-1964
Box   2 Folder   24	Salinger, Pierre, 1963-1964
Box   2 Folder   25	Schoenbrun, David (with Mary Werner), 1963-1964
Box   2 Folder   26	Sullivan, John V.B., 1964
Box   2 Folder   27	T-General, 1964
Box   2 Folder   28	Television Projects, 1956-1964
Box   2 Folder   29	Tucson Evening Forum, 1964
Box   2 Folder   30	United States Information Agency, Civil Rights Program, 1963
Box   2 Folder   31	V-General, 1963-1964
Box   2 Folder   32	Video Tape Center, 1964
Box   2 Folder   33	W-General, 1963-1964
Box   2 Folder   34	Werner, Mary, 1963-1964
Box   2 Folder   35	Wide World Lecture Bureau, 1963-1965
Box   2 Folder   36	Williams, G. Mennen, 1964
Box   2 Folder   37	Wincor and Stern, 1963-1964
Box   2 Folder   38	WNEW--David Schoenbrun Reporting, 1963-1964
Box   2 Folder   39	Wolper, David, 1963-1964
Box   2 Folder   40	Y-General, 1964
	Subseries: Personal Correspondence	⇧
Box   3 Folder   1	A - Z, 1963-1964
	Subseries: Financial Correspondence	⇧
Box   3 Folder   2	Baker and Weeks, 1965
Box   3 Folder   3	Insurance, 1964
Box   3 Folder   4	Leidersdorf and Company, 1963-1965
Box   3 Folder   5	Pan American World Airways, 1963-1965
	Series: Financial Records	⇧
	Atlanticom Inc.
Box   3 Folder   6	Income tax return, Fiscal Year (FY) 1963-1964
Box   3 Folder   7	Morgan Guaranty and Trust bank account, FY 1963-1964
Box   3 Folder   8	Expenses reimbursed to David Schoenbrun, FY 1963-1964
Box   3 Folder   9	Bills paid, FY 1963-1964
	Schoenbrun, David
Box   3 Folder   10	Income tax return, 1963
Box   3 Folder   11	Bills paid, 1963-1964
Box   3 Folder   12	Selling of Washington, D.C. home, 1963
Box   3 Folder   13	Income tax records, 1964
Box   3 Folder   14	Income tax deductions, 1964
Box   4 Folder   1	Personal checking account (Morgan Guaranty and Trust), 1964
Box   4 Folder   2	Personal checking account (First National City Bank), 1964
Box   4 Folder   3	Stocks, 1964
Box   4 Folder   4	WNEW expense account, 1964
Box   4 Folder   5	Bills paid, 1965
	Series: Subject File	⇧
Box   4 Folder   6	Appointment book, Mary Werner, 1964
Box   4 Folder   7	Brief biographies of David Schoenbrun
Box   5 Folder   9	Biographical clippings
	Center for the Study of Democratic Institutions Asian trip (CSDI), 1967
Box   4 Folder   8	Miscellaneous reports and papers
Box   4 Folder   9	Shoenbrun's report, 1967
Box   5 Folder   1	North Vietnam series for Newsday, 1967
Box   5 Folder   2	Notebook for Hanoi reports
Box   5 Folder   3-4	“DeGaulle and the Anglo Saxons,” Manuscript and publication in LeFigaro, 1964
Box   5 Folder   5	DeGaulle book prospectus, undated
Box   5 Folder   6	DeGaulle, confidential memoranda for Johnson administration, 1963-1964
	Benjamin Franklin in Paris
Box   6 Folder   1-5	Book draft
Box   7 Folder   1	Prospectus, 1974
Box   7 Folder   2	Bibliography
Box   7 Folder   3	Franklin in Paris chronologies
	French Underground during World War II
Box   7 Folder   4	Chronologies
Box   7 Folder   5	Research, miscellaneous files
	Photocopied documents from National Archives
Box   7 Folder   6-7	“Research book”
Box   7 Folder   8	Joint Chiefs of Staff records
Box   7 Folder   9	OPD Operations Division records
	OSS records
Box   7 Folder   10-17	Declassification NNO 750-140
Box   8 Folder   1	Declassification NNO 750-140 (continued)
Box   8 Folder   2	Declassification NNO-750-170
Box   8 Folder   4-6	Transcriptions of OSS documents
Box   8 Folder   3	SHAEF
Box   8 Folder   7	Unidentified volume
Box   8 Folder   8	Unidentified volume
Box   8 Folder   9-10	Miscellaneous photocopies
Box   5 Folder   7	Lectures and speeches, 1962-1963
Box   5 Folder   8	Newmann, Allen, Prospectus for television special, undated
Box   9 Folder   1	Notecards, 1980 and undated
Box   5 Folder   10	Paris-Vienna junket, 1964
Box   5 Folder   11-13	Schoenbrun Reporting (daily scripts and index), 1964
	Vietnam research
Box   9 Folder   2	Bibliography cards
Box   9 Folder   3	Chronology cards
Box   9 Folder   4	Watergate chronology
Box   5 Folder   14	Published articles, 1955-1970
	Series: Audio Recordings	⇧
329A/1	Schoenbrun interviews Dwight Eisenhower and John Eisenhower at Gettysburg on the Allies' relations with Charles De Gaulle, 1964 August 25
329A/2	Interview with Schoenbrun by Pat Mars, WNYC Radio, New York, on Vietnam, 1968 May
	North Vietnamese patriotic disc recordings obtained in 1967
Disc 121A/1	“In Praise of Our Fatherland”
Disc 121A/1	“Heroic and Indomitable South Vietnam”
Disc 121A/2	“The Tay Nguyen Dance”
Disc 121A/2	“Ly Hoai Nam”
Disc 121A/3	“Your Words Will Echo Forever”
Disc 121A/3	“Heroic Thanh Hoa Province”
Disc 121A/3	“The Handkerchief”
Disc 121A/4	“Quang Binh, O My Homeland”
Disc 121A/4	“Ready for Fighting”
Disc 121A/4	“A 'Bumper Crop' of Victories”
Disc 121A/5	“Liberation March”
Disc 121A/5	“The Song of the Aircraft Hunter”
Disc 121A/5	“The Song of Jacket-making”
Disc 121A/5	“On the Thousand-miles Road”
Disc 121A/6	“Liberating the South”
Disc 121A/6	“Time for Action”
Disc 121A/6	“Crossing the River”
Disc 121A/6	“Song of the Liberation Army”
PH U.S. Mss 118AF	Series: Visual Materials	⇧
Folder   1	Portraits of David Schoenbrun and prominent individuals, North Vietnamese negatives, contact prints, and Schoenbrun's identifications, 1967
Folder   2-3	Hanoi
Folder   4-5	Hanoi and Phu Xa
Folder   6	Phu Xa
Folder   7-8	Phat Diem
Folder   9	French agency prints (Photo Pic)
Folder   10	Prints possibly issued by North Vietnam
Oversize Folder	Dory Schary
	Film
DD 121	David Schoenbrun on Vietnam: How Did We Get In? How Can We Get Out?, 1967